10.21.2006

The Next War?

There's been lots of buzz recently about both an impending "October Surprise" and war with Iran. There's good reason to conclude the two are one and the same. But with the recent outbreak of what radio goddess Stephanie Miller calls "mastergate" or "La Cage aux Foley," the predictable pre-election fear-mongering has been thrown out of whack. I don't know if war with Iran was the planned October Surprise, but despite mounting evidence that such a war is in the offing, it's looking increasingly unlikely that it will begin before the elections of November 7. Why? Lack of pretext. While the neocon message machine was churning out regular calls for such a war, post-Foley we've heard barely a peep. And now there's the most recent episode in Those Wacky North Koreans (sweeps week edition). Given that there's all of 2 and a half weeks till the election, it's hard to believe the Administration can generate sufficient interest in Iran to mount an attack. Former Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, who's pretty much always right about everything long before anyone else suspects anything is going on, claims that we'll start bombing the bejesus out of Iran by March. I wouldn't doubt him--ever. In any case, barring a small-scale false-flag terrorist attack in the U.S.--not bloody likely considering the lack of warning (fear mongering) and the outstanding claim that Bush™ has "kept us safe" since 9/11--it's hard to believe we'll be bombing anybody for at least a month.

But if you want an excellent overview of what we're up to in the Middle East and Central Asia, including all the military exercises Iran, Russia, China and their neighbors have conducted recently, and the massive naval military buildup by us, NATO and other allies, read this. For a detailed list of all the hardware we're positioning in and around the Persian Gulf, follow the Chossudovsky link near the beginning of the article. Considering that the Enterprise Strike Group (I may have the name wrong) is 1) getting near in the Persian Gulf, 2) is one of our most valuable naval assets but is especially susceptible to Iranian missle attack for which we have no adequate defense, and 3) was ordered out of dry dock prematurely, it's hard to believe that its hurried positioning off the coast of Iran is just a bluff. Ergo....